About

Florida SouthWestern State College

Florida SouthWestern State College (also referred to as FSW or Florida SouthWestern) is a state college in Southwest Florida. It was founded in 1962 as Edison Junior College and was named for Thomas Edison until the college was renamed FSW in 2014. The college has its main campus in Fort Myers in Lee County, satellite campuses in Charlotte and Collier counties, and outreach programs in Hendry and Glades counties.

Accreditation

FSW is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award associate and baccalaureate degrees.

History

The college, originally known as Edison Junior College, admitted its first students in the fall of 1962. The college was named after inventor and industrialist Thomas Edison, who frequently wintered in Fort Myers. The Lee Campus (now known as the Thomas Edison Campus) opened in 1965 on an 80-acre site with three buildings. The nursing program began on that campus with a $50,000 donation in 1968.

The name changed to Edison Community College in 1972, just after the first nursing classes began to graduate. Ten years later, in 1982, the USF campus was dedicated after two years in the making. The college's arts hall, the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, opened its doors in 1986. This Hall became the prime location for performing arts in Lee County.

Construction on the Collier County Campus at Lely lasted from 1991-92, on a 50-acre site in Naples, FL. Soon after that, the Charlotte County Campus opened in 1997, on a 204-acre plot of land in Punta Gorda, FL. This is the largest campus to date. The college revised its mission by publishing a new strategic plan, The Decade of Promise, in 2002. The college again changed its name in 2004 to Edison College.

Crews change the Charlotte campus back entrance sign.

The college continued to expand through the 2000s with increased funding for the nursing program and the new Richard H. Rush library on the Lee Campus. 2008 saw a fourth name change to Edison State College, and a new torch logo with blue and yellow colors to reflect the college's new status as a baccalaureate-granting state college. Multiple new baccalaureate programs opened over the next decade, including Middle Grades Mathematics, Sciences, and Language Arts Education; Applied Science in Public Safety Management; Elementary Education; and Secondary Education Biology and Mathematics.

The name, logo, and colors were changed for the fifth and final time to date in 2014. This name broke the ties to Thomas Edison, who was the college's former namesake. The new name, Florida SouthWestern State College, reflects the wide region that the college serves. One of the primary reasons for the change was to avoid confusion with Thomas Edison State College of New Jersey due to new online courses with a nationwide reach.

Kenneth Walker Resignation

In 2011, Edison's faculty senate approved a vote of no confidence in the college president and senior vice president, amid allegations of employment discrimination, inappropriately high salaries for key administrators, and problems with the accreditation of the nursing program. A few weeks later, President Kenneth Walker, who had led the college for over twenty years, announced plans to resign. Edison's governing District Board of Trustees ultimately fired Walker in January 2012.

Accreditation Probation

In June 2012, Edison's accrediting agency placed the college on probation. The agency cited several factors, including the institution's inability to demonstrate integrity; lack of full-time faculty; nursing students being misled about their program's accreditation; and substitution of electives for core classes, which allowed students to graduate without completing degree requirements. Under new leadership, Edison saw its accreditation reaffirmed and its probation lifted in June 2013.

Academics

Degree offerings include 19 associate's degrees, 10 bachelor's degrees, and 10 certificate programs, with emphasis on business, technology, health, and education programs. The college also enrolls more than 3,500 dual enrollment students per year. Non-credit continuing education courses are also offered.

Students

Headcount – 15,800 (Fall 2013 enrollment)

Full-Time – 34%; Part-Time – 66%

65% of students are 24 years old or younger, 35% of students are over the age of 24

Campuses

Former Edison State College Sign at Thomas Edison Campus

The Thomas Edison (formerly the Lee Campus) campus is the primary campus, and is located on 140 acres (0.57 km) between College Parkway and Cypress Lake Drive in south Lee County. The campus consists of 24 permanent buildings, including one- and two-story classroom buildings, a library, a bookstore, a cafeteria, a student center, and laboratories for science, computer science, nursing, health technologies, and college preparatory classes. Florida SouthWestern Collegiate High School - Lee is located on this campus. The collegiate high school is a dual-enrollment based program allowing students to earn an associates degree at the same time as a high school diploma.

The Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall is located on the Thomas Edison Campus and hosts plays, shows, and concerts. The Edison Pops Concert Series is held there annually.

The Collier County Campus is a 80-acre (320,000 m) site off State Road 951 in east Naples. It opened in March 1992.

The Charlotte County Campus is located on a wooded site on Airport Road in Punta Gorda. It opened in 1997. It also has a collegiate high school, which was the first collegiate high school in Florida to accept 9th graders.